In this paper, we model the interaction between idiocentric and allocentric immigrants in two settings – in a society that is predominantly collectivist and in a society that is predominantly individualist. Immigrants, either allocentric or idiocentric, can also be entity theorists (fixed mindset) or incremental theorists (growth mindset). We use evolutionary game theory to model how the host country cultural environment places selective pressure on the cultures of immigrant populations. This has implications for how well immigrants assimilate into their host country. Our results show: (a) depending on the initial ratio of allocentric and idiocentric immigrants, assimilation is either complete or non-existent in collectivist societies; (b) in individualist societies assimilation is never complete (c) the lower the cost of coordination for allocentric immigrants, the easier it becomes for both allocentric and idiocentric immigrants to assimilate into collectivist societies; (d) the lower the cost of coordination for allocentric immigrants, the harder it becomes for both allocentric and idiocentric immigrants to assimilate into individualist societies and; (e) entity theorists are more likely to be favored in individualist societies. Generally speaking our modeling approach can inform our understanding of the dynamic link between psychology and culture.

Atin Basu Choudhary and Dave Cotting. "Cultural Assimilation: The Political Economy of Psychology as an Evolutionary Game Theoretic Dynamic" VMI Working Paper Series (2012) Available at: http://works.bepress.com/atinbasu/24/

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